PIPE RUPTURE SPILLS OIL NEAR BIRD PRESERVE CONDOR HABITAT AFFECTED.

Byline: JUDY O'ROURKE Staff Writer

LOS PADRES NATIONAL FOREST -- Cleanup was under way Friday near a condor sanctuary in the Los Padres National Forest after a ruptured pipeline leaked hundreds of gallons of oil and wastewater into a creek just miles from where the endangered birds bathe and drink.

The break was discovered Tuesday, and before it could be contained, 210 gallons of oil and 2,100 gallons of wastewater had traveled about two miles down Tar Creek, some four miles upstream from where the birds congregate. Repairs and cleanup began Tuesday, after the break was spotted.

Federal and state authorities who flocked to the scene say the spill has not harmed the condors.

``The spill was relavitely small, mostly wastewater, with a thin sheen on the surface, not like a major oil spill in the ocean where there's globby oil that covers seabirds and other wildlife,'' said Mark Hall, refuge manager for the Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge. ``This one's not like that.''

The refuge is near the Fillmore-area Sespe Condor Sanctuary, home to about 28 condors. The large raptors are critically endangered.

Two condors have consistently roosted near where Tar and Sespe creeks converge and others pass through that area, drinking and bathing in the pools. All California condors live in the Los Padres forest, sometimes venturing into the Sierra Nevadas to forage.

The recent cold snap may have cracked the 2 7/8-inch wastewater pipeline, part of hundreds of miles of pipe that snakes through the forest near the bird sanctuary and the Sespe Wilderness in north Ventura County. Crews from Vintage Production California LLC, which operates the oil field, used earthen berms, suction trucks, absorbent pads and flotation devices to restrain and remove the pollution.

The pipleline mostly carried wastewater, which was mixed with the crude oil. The lightweight oil resembles motor oil.

``When the pipe broke, first the water, then the oil drained from the tank,'' said David Christy, spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

Representatives from the BLM, the U.S. Forest Service, the California Department of Fish and Game, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the California Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources are supervising the cleanup.

The pipe runs through a developed oilfield in the forest, northwest of Hopper Mountain, where federal and private land holdings sit side by side.

Authorities expect the process to take two to three weeks.

judy.orourke(at)dailynews.com

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Sespe Condor Sanctuary